Greenock Morton 0 Motherwell 3

Last time Morton met Premier League opposition it was in a cup competition; the game was put beyond doubt when a penalty and a red card were conceded by the home side. History repeated tonight at Cappielow with a 3-0 home defeat, only this time, Morton gave a better account of themselves against a good Motherwell side than they did against the decidedly average Partick Thistle.

A crowd of 3,762 certainly isn't unprecedented at Cappielow, but the kickoff had to be delayed to let all the fans in. Not because of the numbers, but because of their distribution; two concession ticket gates were overworked at the Cowshed as the adult ticket gates stood mostly empty.

Morton perhaps would have hoped that the delay went on slightly longer, as straight from kickoff Motherwell were almost 1-0 up. A free header was gifted to Motherwell in the box, but the resulting short pass played Clarkson offside. Just as well the flag spared his blushes - the youngster blasted the ball wide from close range.

Instant reply came from Morton when Greacen played a delicious pass in front of Weatherson on the left; his shot only narrowly missed the right post. Motherwell too decided to utilise the left flank, taking advantage of some slow Morton closure to fire in a plethora of crosses throughout the game.

During these opening stages, however, it was definitley Morton who came out on top. Great buildup play from Williams and Weatherson earned a corner in the fifth minute; not ten minutes later a shot from Jason Walker on the edge of the area skimmed the top of the bar. Soon afterwards, Motherwell's string of niggling fouls was to begin, with Peter Weatherson being shoved on the edge of the area. The resulting free kick appeared to be charged down by a Motherwell arm, but the referee turned a blind eye, and Morton could only blast a shot wide from the upper-body deflection.

The match took a more even turn after the 25 minute mark, with Motherwell adding to the pressure put on both defences. Some dodgy refereeing allowed Motherwell a free kick deep into Morton territory; a shot-cum-cross from the right wing forced Coyle to save low. A few minutes later, Morton came off the back foot with some tremendous dig in midfield. Millar, atoning for his earlier mixup with McAllister, launched into some crunching tackles to win the ball on the right wing. Although still visibly lightweight, the Morton midfield coped well enough with opposition two leagues their senior.

However, all the midfield fight wasn't enough, as Motherwell took the lead late into the first half. Paterson was freed by a good, short through ball, giving him time to outfox the Morton centre-backs and round the advancing Coyle before taking the ball out to the left of the six-yard box, where he slotted home from an acute angle. Morton's best efforts had been frustrated by a great finish from the attacking midfielder, illustrating that Morton's weakness in midfield had perhaps been overshadowed by their striker's reluctance to finish the few good chances they'd had.

Half-time came and went, and both sides re-emerged intent on maintaining the same frenetic pace that had characterised much of the first half. Even John Maisano, who was somewhat poor in the first half, was giving his all in midfield with a number of good runs and challenges. Motherwell too showed "spirit", but of the more violent kind - Craigan deservedly saw yellow in the 49th minute after a faintly ludicrous body-check/obstruction on McAllister. The resulting free kick swiftly became a corner as Morton charged forward; Alex and Peter embroiled themselves in a goalline stramash which surely should have offered the equaliser. Instead, Alex could only watch in dismay as his header was hacked off the line.

Perhaps sensing that time was running out, Morton became slightly more panicky after this point, and defensive play weakened as a consequence. Once again, the left flank was exposed by some terrific Motherwell sprinting, with their attack being allowed almost thirty seconds to stroll about in the box, before mercifully wasting a golden chance with a terrible finish.

However, end-to-end play prevailed, as a long ball freed Morton on the left, before playing the ball through to the once-deadly duo of Weatherson and Williams. However, both could only get the ball either on the wrong foot, or facing away from goal, and when Peter finally did get a shot off, it was too weak to seriously trouble former internationalist Gordon Marshall between the Wee Dublin End sticks.

Motherwell should have taken the lead on the hour when a beautifully flighted free kick met the unmarked head of a Motherwell player who I failed to identify in the clustered penalty box. His header was beautifully placed at the left post, but Craig Coyle demonstrated his strength as a goal-stopping keeper with a terrific acrobatic punch out to the right flank. While he didn't deal with cross balls as effectively as some may have hoped, his save more than merited the applause that followed.

But, Morton were never one to let a good thing lead to success, and the result was put beyond doubt five minutes later. A disastrous mixup and resulting passback freed McBride to run ahead of the Morton defence and meet Coyle one on one. The Morton 'keeper never got to show these chances as his area of expertise, as Collins sped back at some pace to stop the goalscoring opportunity. Opinions differed as to whether or not the challenge merited a penalty, but a telling sign was that where I was standing-practically level with the challenge, there were no calls of protest to join the ones that came from further away.

Of course, Collins should not receive all the blame for the situation - he should not have been put in such a position by centre backs who were too far forward. A decent defensive performance overall was marred by errors like these, which will leave all concerned perhaps working on their concentration. In any case,Collins didn't argue when the penalty was given; he made for the showers immediatley, as the last man can earn no reprieve. McBride made the incident count, thumping home the penalty to put the 'Well one man and two goals up.

Morton's spirit broken, it was only eight minutes later that, following some decent attacking play from Morton, they let Motherwell in for their second soft goal and the third overall of the night. Clarkson, who was having a quiet game by his standards, made his quality tell when he ran onto a through ball for a weaker carbon-copy of the first goal. However, his finish flattered the buildup; the goal was well taken and the Lanarkshire side deservedly received its third and final goal of the night.

Morton were not well, but they would not out. Millar launched on a mazy run from the centre of midfield, before being felled in an undignified fashion by an unidentified Motherwell "player." The shot from the indirect free kick that followed was well struck by McAllister, his cued shot testing Marshall at the left post.

Just as those between the Sinclair Street end and the Cowshed started to question referee Willie Young's tendency to let niggling challenged go unpunished (and crucially, unbooked) when they came from Motherwell, he silenced us all by awarding Morton a penalty. Weatherson was bundled over in the box after a decent run, and it seemed right that he should take the spot-kick, Williams having been subbed off shortly before Motherwell's 2nd. However, it wasn't to be his night. Marshall dived right, the shot went right, the shot was punched away with a right display of force from the 'keeper. Clearly, Morton's finishing left a lot to be desired on the night, but in this case, credit too must go to the Motherwell keeper, who gave a good account of himself.

Overall, the frail Morton midfield was not humiliated tonight. Nobody was humiliated, really; Motherwell are a well-established SPL side and the boo-boys would do well to remember this. The Morton side certainly wasn't without its weaknesses; poor finishing, a left flank too easily exposed and some woeful defensive mixups spoiled what could otherwise have been a great performance. However, these mistakes were isolated, and the majority of Morton fans stayed until the final whistle to applaud a Morton side that, while still weak in places, certainly produced an entertaining and exciting cup tie which, at least in spells, showed that the Greenock side can play and defend with the best of them.

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